‘Matilda’ is one for the books

Triumph of the Smart

The makers of “Matilda” have done the impossible—triumphantly. They’ve taken Roald Dahl’s popular children’s novel and turned it into a big-budget musical that is true enough to the book to satisfy its youthful readers, yet sophisticated enough to delight childless adults who normally wouldn’t be caught dead partaking of such kid stuff.

Matilda: The Best Musical Since The Lion King

“My Mummy says I’m a miracle!” sings the first child to appear onstage, in the opening number of Matilda: The Musical. He’s quickly joined by more kids, all singing about how their parents treat them like princes and angels and Daddy’s “special little guy.” The delicious irony, of course, is that they’re a bunch of brats, and Matilda, the precocious four-year-old who outshines them all, has been sentenced to the two most neglectful, self-absorbed parents on earth.